As a result of the deregulation of the gas market in a large number of countries, a brisk and dynamic gas trading has been created. Gas is traded today like a security. This dynamic of gas trading (in addition to weather influences) has led inter alia to the gas flow having to be planned anew, often daily, by the pipeline operator for the very next day (so-called dispatching). As a further consequence of the deregulation, the gas network operators now compete with each other. In order to optimize its costs and at the same time to optimize profits, the gas network operators are anxious to utilize the pipeline capacity as highly as possible, to observe the contractually agreed calorific values and gas flow volumes, to observe the limits of the compressor operating fields and at the same time to keep the transport costs for the gas as low as possible.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,676,283 B2 discloses a method for optimizing the functionality of a multiplicity of compressor units, wherein the compressor units can be separately engaged and disengaged, wherein energy consumption is optimized.